Heart and Sole: Eliud Kipchoge's Sub 2 Hour Marathon - By Kayleigh Simpson

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October 12, 2019, will forever mark the day running history was made. Eliud Kipchoge, the most decorated distance runner on the planet, blew everyone away by running a sub-2-hour marathon. In only 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds, he managed to run 26.2 miles - a feat many can only struggle to imagine.  To put that into perspective, Kipchoge ran over 26 miles at a pace of 4 minutes and 32 seconds per mile!

While this win was a massive accomplishment for mankind, it has stirred a lot of controversy in the running community.

Foremost among the reasons for controversy was the shoes that Kipchoge wore. While running his marathon, he wore an unreleased pair of Nike Alphafly shoes.  According to New York Times data analysis, the older model of the shoe Eliud broke records in has been shown to increase marathon runners' times by 3-4%. Although this number may sound insignificant, when it comes to running 26.2 miles, it can easily make the difference between a second-place finish and a fifth-place finish. So how do these shoes work? Unlike many other running shoes, Nike designed these shoes with a carbon-fiber plate in the midsole.  This design is meant to propel runners forward in the same way a slingshot would. Currently, the International Association of Athletics Federations (I.A.A.F) has a rule stating all shoes "must be reasonably available to all in the spirit of the universality of athletics." This is one of the regulations that prevented Kipchoge's attempt from counting as a world record - since he was wearing shoes that are not available to everyone.

Eliud Kipchoge's sub-2-hour marathon shoes

Kipochoge's attempt also did not count as a world record because of how controlled the conditions he ran in were. Kipochoge got to run the course all by himself (excluding his pacers) and had the course specifically engineered for him - a very flat course that lacked sharp turns.  This gave him advantages that other marathon runners may not have available to them.

Eliud Kipchoge crosses the finish line in Vienna.

Despite the recent debate over Kipchoge's sub-2-hour marathon attempt, his incredible victory cannot be discredited.  

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 30, 2019 at 12:34 PM

    This is a truly amazing event because I think running a 4 and a half minute mile is impressive in itself, but running it 26 times in a row seems impossible.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 30, 2019 at 1:55 PM

    I can barely run I 5K without dying. The fact that this guy can run 26.2 miles in under two hours is straight up insane.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 30, 2019 at 5:48 PM

    I actually struggle to run a mile in less than 8 minutes (you know this). I am SO envious of him and cannot imagine how much training he had to go through to be able to pull this off. I think he should have gotten the world record. While the conditions may have been easier, he still achieved something that to me seems unachievable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. DanielleNovember 4, 2019 at 8:38 AM

    This is amazing, but how did he get a course designed just for him? Just for the purpose of breaking this record?

    ReplyDelete

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